Contents

Biography

Louise Michel was born at the Château of Vroncourt (Haute-Marne) on 29 May 1830, the daughter
of a serving-maid, Marianne Michel, and the son of the house,
Etienne Charles Demahis.

She was brought up by her father's parents, and received a
liberal education. After her grandfather's death in 1850 she was
trained to teach, but her refusal to acknowledge Napoleon III prevented her from serving in
a state school. She became violently anti-Bonapartist, and is
said to have contemplated the assassination of Napoleon III. She
found her way in 1866 to a school in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, where she threw herself ardently
into works of charity and revolutionary politics.

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Paris

She was active during the Paris Commune as an ambulance woman,
treating those injured on the barricades. During the Siege of Paris
she untiringly preached resistance to the Prussians. On the establishment of the Commune,
she joined the National Guard. She offered to shoot Thiers, and
suggested the destruction of Paris by way of vengeance for its
surrender.

She was with the Communards who made their last stand in the
cemetery of Montmartre, and was closely allied with Théophile
Ferré, who was executed in November 1871. Michel dedicated a
moving farewell poem to Ferré, l’œillet rouge (The Red
Carnation). It is without a doubt that upon learning of this
loss, Victor Hugo
dedicated his poem to Michel, Viro Major. This ardent
attachment was perhaps one of the sources of the exaltation which
marked her career, and gave many handles to her enemies.

In December 1871, she was brought before the 6th council of war,
charged with offences including trying to overthrow the government,
encouraging citizens to arm themselves, and herself using weapons
and wearing a military uniform. Defiantly, she vowed to never
renounce the Commune, and dared the judges to sentence her to
death.[1]
Reportedly, Michel told the court, “Since it seems that every heart
that beats for freedom has no right to anything but a little slug
of lead, I demand my share. If you let me live, I shall never cease
to cry for vengeance.” [2]

She spent twenty months in prison and was sentenced to
deportation. It was at this time that the Versailles press gave her
the name la Louve rouge, la Bonne Louise (the red
she-wolf, the good Louise).

Deportation

She was loaded onto the ship Virginie on the 8th of
August, 1873,[1] to
be deported to New
Caledonia where she arrived 4 months later. Whilst on board,
she became acquainted with Henri Rochefort, a
famous polemist, who became her friend until her death. She also
met Nathalie
Lemel, another figure active in the commune. Most likely, it
was this latter contact that led Louise to become an anarchist. She
remained in New Caledonia for seven years, refusing special
treatment reserved for women. Befriending the local kanaks, she attempted to educate
them and, unlike others in the commune, took their side in their
1878 revolt. She is even said to have sent the ringleader of the
rebellion Ataï a piece of her scarf.

Return to
France

Michel returned to Paris in 1880 after amnesty was granted to
the Communards. Her revolutionary passion undiminished, she gave a
public address on the 21st of November, 1880[1].
She continued her revolutionary activity in Europe, attending the
anarchist congress in London
in 1881, where she led demonstrations, spoke to huge crowds, and
headed a libertarian school.

She travelled throughout France, preaching revolution, and in
1883 she led a Paris mob which pillaged a baker's shop. For this
she was condemned to six years imprisonment, but was released in
1886, at the same time as Kropotkin and other prominent
anarchists. After a short period of freedom she was again arrested
for making inflammatory speeches. She was soon liberated, but,
hearing that her enemies hoped to intern her in a lunatic asylum, she fled to England in 1890. She returned
to France in 1895, taking part in the agitation provoked by the Dreyfuss affair in 1898, and from this time
forward, she split up her time between conferences and stays with
friends in London.

She was stopped many times during demonstrations, and was again
incarcerated for six years, but eventually freed after three years
thanks to the intervention of Georges Clemenceau, so that she
could see her mother again at the brink of death. She was again
incarcerated several times, although for shorter periods of time.
One could say she was constantly followed by the police.

She was touring France and lecturing on behalf of anarchist
causes when she died in Room 11, [5]Hotel
Oasis, Marseilles on January 10, 1905. Her funeral
in Paris drew an immense crowd that did not fail to impress
contemporaries. Numerous orators spoke, among them the Master Mason of the Lodge of Universal
Fraternity, provoking interest in whether or not Michel was in fact
a Freemason. She was invited to a Lodge one year
before her death, but was never officially "initiated." The members
of the Lodge felt honored by her joining, and believed that her
previous actions exempted her from the rite of initiation. However,
she never attended the Lodge, and when asked why, responded that
she "thought they didn't accept women."

Social
legacy

Michel became highly admired by French workers and
revolutionaries, particularly for her association with the Paris Commune. From
after her death until 1916, a demonstration was held every year at
her tomb at Levallois-Perret.

A legendary figure of the labour movement, Michel had the ability
to incite crowds to act. Frequently, the language used to describe
her is that reserved for saints and heretics; she is often referred
to as "Bonne Louise" (Good Louise) or the "Vierge
rouge" (red Virgin). For better or worse, Michel seems to have
fascinated her contemporaries. This woman, educated and cultured,
intelligent without being shy and retiring, and lacking the beauty
of certain demimondaines
and other women of loose morals who populated the period before the
Belle Epoque,
was surrounded by many male celebrities. They were often her
steadfast friends, until the end of her life, or more frequently to
the end of theirs. For a period when women still had essentially no
rights, she was in many respects an exception.

Photos taken of her reveal a woman with a rather masculine and
plain face, as if chiseled with age, with a slender figure (it has
since been argued that she and Dolores Ibárruri, i..e., La
Pasionaria, another Left-of-Center social activist, shared a
resemblance). She was, with George Sand, one of the rare women of the
19th century to have worn male clothing at one stage of her life,
revealing a feminist indignation.

Generous, devoted to the cause of the most wretched, it is
without the slightest doubt her courage which best characterises
her personality. When she found herself before the court, she used
it as a political soapbox and imposed herself on the judges, who on
several occasions commuted her sentences.

Her literary legacy consists of a few theoretical essays and
some poems, legends and tales, including some
for children, who never failed to interest her. It is perhaps
ironic that although primarily remembered for her militant activism
— i.e., for her so-called "Social Revolution" — her name is
frequently given to primary and secondary schools in French towns.
She thus has an implicit image in French culture as France's school
teacher, rather than the secular missionary that she in fact
was.

In 1975, the courtyard in front of the Sacre Coeur Cathedral was
named in Louise Michel's honor. The sign at the gate proclaims her
a "Heroine of the Commune".

In 2005, the hundredth anniversary of her death was celebrated.
During the celebration, two seminars paid homage to the "bonne
Louise," notably the important March seminar "Louise Michel,
figure of transversality" (led by Valérie Morignat), organized by
the mayor of Paris and the cultural association Actazé. This event
brought together 22 Louise Michel specialists who underlined an
unclassifiable, brilliant, and still contemporary personality.
Louise Michel's extraordinary influence can still be seen today in
departments of American Feminine Studies, in the form of her
thousand-page novel "La misère" (Misery), which denounced
the social crisis of the suburbs long before the crisis was
recognized as a problem.

Contents

Life

Louise Michel was born at the Château of Vroncourt (Haute-Marne) on 29 May1830, the daughter of Marianne Michel, and of Etienne Charles Demahis. She was brought up by her father's parents, and received a libertaria education. After her grandfather's death in 1850 she was trained to teach, but after few times she saw that Napoleon III prevented her from serving in a state school. She became violently anti-Bonapartist, and is said to have thought about the assassination of Napoleon III. She became anarchist in 1866 to a school in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, where she saw that his destiny was to work for charity and follow the revolution.

Paris

She was active during the Paris Commune as an ambulance woman, she helped mutilated or injured on the barricades. During the Siege of Paris she was in resistance against the Prussians. On the establishment of the Commune, she joined the National Guard. She offered to shoot Thiers, and suggested the destruction of Paris for its surrender.

She was with the Communards who made their last stand in the cemetery of Montmartre, and was closely allied with Théophile Ferré, who was executed in November 1871. Michel dedicated a moving farewell poem to Ferré, l’œillet rouge (The Red Carnation). It is without a doubt that upon learning of this loss, Victor Hugo dedicated his poem to Michel, Viro Major. This ardent attachment was perhaps one of the sources of the exaltation which marked her career, and gave many handles to her enemies. After December 1871, she was making propaganda, for help poor people,trying to destroy the government, and supporting people to arm themselves, and herself using weapons and wearing a military uniform. She never renounced the Commune, and few times later the judges to sentence her to death. She spent twenty months in prison and was sentenced to deportation.

Deportation

She was pun onto the shipVirginie on the 8th of August, 1873, to be deported to New Caledonia where she arrived 4 months later. On board, she met Henri Rochefort, a famous polemist, who became her friend until her death. She also met Nathalie Lemel, another figure active in the commune. Louise rest in New Caledonia for seven years, refusing special treatment reserved for women. After in 1878 she was a leader in a revolt. The following year, she received authorisation to become a teacher in Noumea for the children of the deported—among them many Kabyles (Kabyles du Pacifique) from Cheikh Mokrani's rebellion (1871)—and later in schools for girls.

Return to France

Michel returned to Paris in 1880 after amnesty was granted to the Communards. Her revolutionary never died and she controlled freely a libertarian school.She travelled everywhere in France, supporting revolution, and in 1883 she led a Paris mob which pillaged a baker's shop. For this she was condemned to six years imprisonment, but was released in 1886, at the same time as Kropotkin and other prominent anarchists. After a short period of freedom she was again arrested for speaking bad about the social system.

She was soon free again, but, hearing that her enemies hoped to put her in a lunatic asylum, she went to England in 1890. She returned to France in 1895, taking part in the revolt made by the Dreyfuss affair in 1898.Few months ago she was constantly followed by the police, until she died in "Room 11", in the Hotel Oasis, Marseilles on January 10, 1905.

The women in the social

Michel became highly admired by French workers and revolutionaries, particularly for her association with the Paris Commune. From after her death until 1916, a demonstration was held every year at her tomb at Levallois-Perret.Frequently, the language used to describe her is that reserved for saints and heretics; she is often referred to as "Bonne Louise" (Good Louise) or the "Vierge rouge" (red Virgin). She was always respected same in periods when women were without right.